Q&A | Patti Smith

Rocker recalls late greats in Canadian photo exhibit

TORONTO — Patti Smith is best-known for her rock ’n’ roll songs from the punk era of the 1970s,
but visitors to a new photo exhibit will see a different side of the musician, poet and artist. • T
he 70 photographs in the exhibit “Camera Solo” — to open next Saturday at the Art Gallery of
Ontario and run through May 19 — consist of poetic images of gravestones, religious iconography and
objects that belonged to since-deceased writers and artists.

In her 2010 memoir,
Just Kids, Smith wrote about her love affair and friendship with Mapplethorpe, which
lasted until his death from AIDS-related complications in 1989 at age 42.

Smith, 66, a mother of two, was married to guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, who died in 1994. She
released the album
Banga last year and will begin a music tour in Japan.

She recently spoke about the show and Polaroid photography, a pre-digital technique that
produces an instant print.

Q: What inspires you as a photographer?

A: Truthfully, I don’t really think of myself as a photographer. I don’t have all the
disciplines and knowledge of a person who has spent their life devoted to photography. Light
inspires me. I’m drawn to architecture — often graves, statues, trees, things usually that are
quite still. . . . I’ve been taking pictures continuously since 1995, until the end of Polaroid
film. I’m taking very few pictures now because I have very little film left, most of it expired. &
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Q: Are your pictures about nostalgia or a remembrance of that person?

A: It’s not nostalgia. I’m not really a nostalgic person. I’m memory-oriented, so a sense of
remembrance. . . . All of these things are to bring all these people and things up to date, to walk
with us. These are artists, family, people that we love — people that pass away. We can keep them
with us always.

Q: So you aren’t out there snapping everything; you are being quite selective?

A: I never snapped everything. Polaroid by its nature makes you frugal. You walk around with
maybe two packs of film in your pocket. You have 20 shots, so each shot is a world.

Q: Did you learn anything from Mapplethorpe?

A: The one thing that we had in common is that both of us had a very good sense of composition.
It’s the same type of work ethic, but I work quite differently. The atmosphere of my pictures is
different. I drew a lot from 19th-century photographers. Robert was a real photographer. He was an
artist, but he also really immersed himself in every aspect of how to project light in his work. &
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Q: How does photography intersect with your other creative work?

A: I think of myself really as a writer. So perhaps the pictures are somewhat literary, but I
think they also stand on their own.

Q: Do you identify with the punk scene or something more organic?

A: I was involved in the pre- and post-punk scene in the 1970s. . . . I’m where I am today. I
have two grown children, I’ve experienced a beautiful husband. I’m a widow. I’m doing my work. I
feel unfettered by any scene. I feel like I’ve moved through many scenes, scenes before the punk
movement and scenes after the punk movement, and the punk movement is in flux. It’s still going on
and it was going on before it had the name “punk movement.”